Artificial Spleen Removes Ebola, HIV Viruses and Toxins From Blood Using Magnets [View all]

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/artificial-spleen-removes-ebola-hiv-viruses-toxins-blood-using-magnets-1465585

Harvard scientists have invented a new artificial spleen that is able to clear toxins, fungi and deadly pathogens such as Ebola from human blood, which could potentially save millions of lives.

To overcome this, researchers have invented a "biospleen", a device similar to a dialysis machine that makes use of magnetic nanobeads measuring 128 nanometres in diameter (one-five hundredths the width of a single human hair) coated with mannose-binding lectin (MBL), a type of genetically engineered human blood protein.

The researchers also tested the bio-spleen on rats that had been infected by toxins and viruses such as E. coli and S. aureus. After just five hours of filtering, 90% of the toxins and pathogens had been removed from the rats' bloodstreams and 90% of the treated rats survived.